The ACLU of Maryland is defending Anthony Graber, who potentially faces sixteen years in prison if found guilty of violating state wiretap laws because he recorded video of an officer drawing a gun during a traffic stop. In a trend that we’ve seen across the country, police have become increasingly hostile to bystanders recording their actions. You can read some examples here, here and here.

However, the scale of the Maryland State Police reaction to Anthony Graber’s video is unprecedented. Once they learned of the video on YouTube, Graber’s parents house was raided, searched, and four of his computers were confiscated. Graber was arrested, booked and jailed. Their actions are a calculated method of intimidation. Another person has since been similarly charged under the same statute.

The wiretap law being used to charge Anthony Graber is intended to protect private communication between two parties. According to David Rocah, the ACLU attorney handling Mr. Graber’s case, “To charge Graber with violating the law, you would have to conclude that a police officer on a public road, wearing a badge and a uniform, performing his official duty, pulling someone over, somehow has a right to privacy when it comes to the conversation he has with the motorist.”

“America is different from the rest of the world in lots of ways, many of them good. One of the bad ones is its willingness to lock up its citizens (see our briefing). One American adult in 100 festers behind bars (with the rate rising to one in nine for young black men). Its imprisoned population, at 2.3m, exceeds that of 15 of its states. No other rich country is nearly as punitive as the Land of the Free. The rate of incarceration is a fifth of America’s level in Britain, a ninth in Germany and a twelfth in Japan.”

We can only hope that the economic realities of the economy will lead to a sharp decrease, once states determine they have no money to incarcerate.

This is pretty messed up when you think about it—1 in 100? Isn’t that another way of saying 1% of America is in prison? That’s out of control, in my opinion. However, it puts unemployment in perspective—isn’t unemployment hovering somewhere around 10%? So, essentially, 11% of America is not contributing to society economically. That’s 11% of 300 million people. Roughly 3 million people are essentially useless in the eyes of the economy and the government.

But that doesn’t seem to bother the government at all. Check out this next bit also from underpaidgenius:

I’m starting to have a sick feeling about prospects for American workers — but not, or not entirely, for the reasons you might think.

Yes, growth is slowing, and the odds are that unemployment will rise, not fall, in the months ahead. That’s bad. But what’s worse is the growing evidence that our governing elite just doesn’t care — that a once-unthinkable level of economic distress is in the process of becoming the new normal.

And I worry that those in power, rather than taking responsibility for job creation, will soon declare that high unemployment is “structural,” a permanent part of the economic landscape — and that by condemning large numbers of Americans to long-term joblessness, they’ll turn that excuse into dismal reality.

But isn’t that already what’s happened?

Seems to me the only thing that’s missing from seeing Krugman’s equation come true is honest leadership from politicians and business people willing to state the facts about what is really happening. This is the core of the Neo-Con belief system—lie to use about a threat to keep us afraid and in line. A healthy prison population, a couple wars and an economy built on sand are perfect tools to keep most of us quaking in our boots. Of course, if you’re rich, none of the bad stuff really touches you, so who cares if you tell a few lies?

In the end, whether they’re lying to us or not is irrelevant since the results are the same. Of course, in the second UnderpaidGenius.com post I quote from above, blogger, Stowe Boyd asks when the protests start.

The sick are the homophobes, not the homosexuals. The sick are the people with claustrophobia, not the elevators. The sick are the people with xenophobia, not the foreigners. Why would an airplane be at fault for someone’s fear of heights? Why would we homosexuals be at fault for the people who suffer from this illness called homophobia. There’s a wonderful and simple way of curing these phobias and fears: with an antidote called love.” -Ernest Larrese, one-half of the first gay couple to marry legally in South America.

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I don’t think so. I recently came across a post from a person whose views I respect, but don’t always agree with. He was reblogging a post on Buddha’s “Noble Eightfold Path” aka, the Buddha’s version of the Ten Commandments (only there’s just 8 for Buddha—he’s more economical, I guess). Anyway, so here they are:

Right View: The right way to think about life is to see the world through eyes of the Buddha—with wisdom and compassion.

Right Thought: We are what we think. Clear and kind thoughts build good, strong characters.

Right Speech: By speaking kind and helpful words, we are respected and trusted by everyone.

Right Conduct: No matter what we say, others know us from the way we behave. Before we criticize others, we should first see what we do ourselves.

Right Livelihood: This means choosing a job that does not hurt others. The Buddha said, “Do not earn your living by harming others. Do not seek happiness by making others unhappy.”

Right Effort: A worthwhile life means doing our best at all times and having good will towards others. This also means not wasting effort on things that harm ourselves and others.

Right Mindfulness: This means being aware of our thoughts, words, and deeds.

Right Concentration: Focus on one thought or object at a time. By doing this, we can be quiet and attain true peace of mind.

I see one general, but major flaw in these “Eight Commandments” and that is: What do you do when someone doesn’t want to let you? Each one of those points falls apart when you find yourself interacting with people who don’t play along with. What do you do then?

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Found this yesterday on pinktentacle.com and was mildly creeped out by it’s appearance—but it sounds perfectly reasonable on paper:

The Telenoid R1 robot is designed to add an element of realism to long-distance communication by recreating the physical presence of the remote user. The robot’s actions mirror those of the remote user, whose movements are monitored by real-time face tracking software on the user’s computer. Users can also transmit their voice through the robot’s embedded speakers.

Yeah, but seeing that thing in the (silicone) flesh is kinda freaky. They’re going to have to do something about that thing before I’d want something like that in my home.

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Found this yesterday on pinktentacle.com and was mildly creeped out by it’s appearance—but it sounds perfectly reasonable on paper:

The Telenoid R1 robot is designed to add an element of realism to long-distance communication by recreating the physical presence of the remote user. The robot’s actions mirror those of the remote user, whose movements are monitored by real-time face tracking software on the user’s computer. Users can also transmit their voice through the robot’s embedded speakers.

Yeah, but seeing that thing in the (silicone) flesh is kinda freaky. They’re going to have to do something about that thing before I’d want something like that in my home.